The best caller ever (The Atheist Experience)

Stan Marsh on "The Big Questions" & Religion

Writing Headlines

Ibang iba yung headline nung isang istorya:


'Crazy' tweet upsets massacre defense lawyer - GMA News

‘Loony’ lawyer in Ampatuan trial cries foul - Philippine Daily Inquirer

We were misquoted, defense lawyers in massacre case claim - Philippine Star

Gago talaga Inquirer :)

Website para sa Truth-Tellers

May bagong website para sa mga truth-tellers, ang ihearttruthtellers.org, isang website na binuo para suportahan ang mga matapang at makabayang Pilipino na nagbibigay liwanag sa mga katiwaliang nagaganap sa ating gobyerno.

Sinimulan ang website na ito ng mga kaibigan at mga taga suporta ni Ms. Heidi Mendoza at sa simula malaking bahagi ng suporta ay matututok sa kanya, subalit habang dumarami ang mga tagapagsalita ng katotohanan, mabubuhos sa mga ito ang suporta.

Isa sa mga makikita sa site na ito ay ang timeline ng kasi kina General Garcia, December 2003 pa ng mahuli ang anak ni General Garcia na dala dalang 100,000 dollars, 2004 pa nagsimula ang imbestigasyon, 2011 na wala pang resolusyon at muntik pang siyang makahulagpos sa hustisya ng bayan.

US Foreign Policy and Democracy

Ed Brayton noticed how some Americans seem unenthusiastic in their support of the democratic movements in Tunisia and Egypt. Then he wrote something that most Filipinos and probably most non-Americans, would instantly agree with.

"The government of the United States has always talked out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to foreign policy. We talk in the most grandiose of terms about our commitment to supporting freedom and democracy around the world while at the same time supporting one brutal dictator after another. The list is long and disgusting: Pinochet; Somoza; Baptiste; Montt; Suharto; Noriega; Marcos; Duarte; Shah Pahlevi; Hussein; and many more.

What those men all shared is a willingness to go along with American corporate and political interests, at least for a time. Some of them eventually became a liability, like Marcos, Noriega and Hussein. And so we suddenly "discovered" that they were brutal thugs who had oppressed their people and we removed them from power, trumpeting our love of liberty and self-determination for all people.

That sordid history proves that we don't really give a damn about freedom and democracy. We gladly support dictators, no matter how vile their crimes against their own people, when they do our bidding. We spend billions of dollars, and often many lives, to place them and keep them in power. And then we are always astonished when the people of the nations they oppress don't like us when they overthrow their satraps."

I like that Mr. Brayton recognizes that US foreign policy is the same whether the incumbent party is Republican or Democrat. I was surprised when Filipinos were justifying their support for then candidate Obama because they taught that with him as US President, there will be a difference in their policy towards the Philippines. I thought it won't, and it hasn't, because US foreign policy is based on what the US perceive as their best interest, not on the interest of their client countries.

Also as a Filipino, I would dispute his characterization that it was the US that removed Marcos from office. I will concede that it helped that they removed their active support of him when it was obvious that most of the Philippines was determined to remove him from office, but it was the Filipinos themselves who made it happen.

Make Love not War (guns for sex toys)

US shop's Valentine's offer: sex toys for guns

"A shop in the US state of Alabama on Tuesday launched a Valentine's Day offer it hopes will trigger a large response in a limp economy: customers can swap their guns for sex toys.

"In today's economy, this is a way of helping people who may feel they can't afford something for Valentine's Day," said Sherri Williams, the owner of the "Pleasures" sex toy shop, where assorted erotica during the next week can be obtained in exchange for cast-off firearms."

Death Penalty 2

Isa sa mga sinasabing kagandahan ng death penalty ay ito daw isang deterrent sa mga gumagawa ng krimen.  Natatakot daw kasi sa death penalty ang mga tao kaya hindi sila gagawa ng krimen.  Kung iisipin natin,  isang paraan lang nakakabawas ng krimen ang death penalty,  ito ay sa paraan na yung gumagawa ng krimen ay nawalan na ng pagkakataon na gumawa ng krimen, patay na kasi.  Pero siyempre, kung kinulong mo naman siya, hindi na rin siya makagawa ng krimen, maliban na lang pagkalaya niya. 

Pero sa mga gagawa ng krimen, deterrent ba ang death penalty?  Hindi.  Bakit,  una may mga kriminal, hindi naman nila iniisip na mahuhuli sila, bakit ka matatakot sa kaparusahan kung sa palagay mo hindi ka naman mahuhuli.  Pangalawa, desperado na sila,  maski natatakot sila sa death penalty, kung wala na silang makitang paraan pa kundi ang gawin yung krimen para matugunan ang problema nila, gagawin pa rin nila yung krimen,  bahala na.  At pangatlo, wala silang pakialam,  sa palagay niyo ba yung mga terorista ay natatakot sa death penalty?  Hindi, kasi sa kanilang pananaw, mas mahalaga pa sa buhay nila ang kanilang ipinaglalaban,  papatay at magpapakamatay sila para sa ipinaglalaban nila.

Ngayon sa deterrence, may balita sa Inquirer na bumaba ng 30 percent ang krimen sa Metro Manila,  isang statistic na nagpapawalang bisa sa mga sinasabi ng mga sumuspota sa pagbalik ng death penalty.